It feels a little odd to post two cooking-related entries in a row, but I wanted to take notes on this (and share it with y’all!). =) Yesterday at Hacklab, Eric, Abtin, and I made Thai curry from scratch, and I made coconut tapioca pudding too. We (mostly) followed this recipe for the Thai curry, tripling the proportions:

Paste (we prepared this in a blender instead of a food processor, and we thinned it with a little coconut milk to make it blendable)

3 Thai chilies

1 stalk lemongrass

3 shallots

1/2 red pepper, deseeded

zest of 1 lime

stalks from a third of a bunch of coriander

thumb-size piece of ginger – we didn’t grate this, we just blended it

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

Curry

Tofu, marinated in soy sauce, chopped chili, and the juice of 1 lime

400ml coconut milk

eggplant

zucchini

green beans

mushrooms

half a red pepper, deseeded

1 tsp brown sugar

basil

Coconut tapioca pudding

Tapioca

Coconut milk

Sugar

Maple syrup

The Fresh.co near Hacklab didn’t carry the kind of tapioca I wanted for the coconut tapioca pudding, so I made do with the minute tapioca that they sell in the instant snacks area (along with Jello and custard powder). I couldn’t figure out how to translate either the coconut tapioca recipe (which specifically tells you to avoid minute tapioca) or the instructions on the back of the tapioca package, so I made something up instead. I used the entire package of minute tapioca, added the remainder of the carton of coconut milk, whisked it to dissolve the tapioca, and cooked it over medium heat (constantly stirring) until the tapioca was no longer crunchy. I added sugar to taste, and I followed the original recipe’s suggestion to top it with maple syrup (… which happened to be the maple syrup that had boiled over during last week’s icing experiment). You’re supposed to let it cool down, but it was yummy while warm anyway. =)

So, more experience points earned and achievements unlocked!

First time to make Thai curry from scratch instead of using the canned curry paste

First time to cook something with lemongrass

First time to make tapioca pudding

First time to make up dessert as I went along

… First time I’d gone through that much coconut milk

Also, Monday, I made chicken pot pie with a biscuit crust. Technically, I made most of it on Sunday, and then I made a quick biscuit crust after we came back from the polling station (I voted in Canada for the first time, yay!). It was wonderfully chicken-y, not at all like the frozen pot pies you can get at the supermarket. Mmm.

I really like this cooking thing. It’s fun to be able to turn simple ingredients into good tastes, decent food, and shared experiences, even though there’s a lot of figuring things out and adjusting and occasionally making the wrong decisions. =) So far, things have been working out really well.